Evening News
by Althea SaDiablo
Summary: An utterly ordinary evening in the Kinomoto house.


This was written as a Secret Santa gift for nighteevee on the tsukimine shrine lj comm.. The incident on the news I lifted from an actual news broadcast I watched in Japan two and a half years ago, if you'd believe it.

------------------------------------------------------

Fujitaka stretched his long legs out and hooked an arm over the back of the sofa. His eyes were focused on the flickering television screen, but his mind had already tuned the announcer's voice to the drone of background noise. His ears he had concentrated on the subtle sounds of the house around him, and specifically the front door.

He could feel the prickle in the air a second before he heard the sound of the door opening. "I'm home!" Sakura's voice was cheerful as usual, with the faint edge that told her father that she was feeling tired but accomplished.

"Welcome back," Fujitaka replied over his shoulder. "How did the film shoot go? And when is the premiere, anyway? I'm going to need to rent a tux."

"Daddy!" Sakura's giggle floated down the hallway from the entrance. Other sounds, as well; specifically that of a large body squeezing in past Sakura, and the sound of oversized paws on wood. "It went fine. I need to take a shower, though. Kero, don't come up, okay?"

"Aw, come on, Sakuraaaa . . ." the sound of that deep voice whining so pitifully made Fujitaka smile. He could practically see Keroberos' pleading face, and the mock-tears gathering in his eyes.

"No way." Sakura's voice was firm, but not unkind. "Remember, we agreed on this."

"It's not fair. What difference does it make?"

"It matters to me." Fujitaka could see his daughter bending down to tousle her Guardian's furry ears. "Is it really so much to ask?"

"But Sakura—"

"No 'but Sakura''s. You can come up after I'm done."

Fujitaka could hear Kero's sigh even over the sound of Sakura's feet on the stairs. The muted voice of the announcer was the only noise for a moment, and then the pad of Kero's paws as he walked into the TV room. "Whatcha watching?"

"Just the news." Fujitaka smiled at the somewhat grumpy-looking golden lion. "Care to join me?"

"Okay," the big cat threw himself down on the rug with a decidedly sulky air and arranged his chin over his big paws. "It's nice to be wanted somewhere."

"You're always wanted here," Fujitaka said serenely, knowing that Kero would fill in the actual meaning of his words without him having to expand them.

Kero's reply was a much smaller sigh of acknowledgement. The Guardian didn't really envy Sakura her privacy now that she had gotten older, Fujitaka knew. He just wanted the attention. "So what's happening?"

"Not much. Just a water main break over by that new apartment complex. Happened earlier this evening."

"Ah, is that what they're calling it—" Kero's sentence cut off abruptly, and he shot a nervous glance towards Fujitaka.

_Ah, right._ Fujitaka pretended not to hear. "The water was under so much pressure that it actually shot all the way over the apartment complex, if you would believe it. Two of the apartments had windows open, and they were completely soaked."

"Is that so." Kero fastened his eyes on the screen, looking decidedly guilty.

_Still can't tell a lie for his life._ Somehow the thought filled him with contentment, and he let himself burrow his toes under the lion's warm, furry body. Kero shifted, accommodating, and closed his eyes. His rumbling purr was enough to make Fujitaka's eyelids drop. It had been a long day, after all, one of the heavier ones in his schedule, and . . .

He was awakened by the music that signaled the end of the program. Kero woke up when Fujitaka pulled his feet from under the lion's warmth, and blinked somewhat owlishly when Fujitaka passed him to turn off the television. "It's over?"

Fujitaka nodded. "I'm going to turn in, I think. Better then sleeping on the couch."

Kero looked mopey again. "Definitely better than the couch."

That earned him raised eyebrows. "You're not going to sleep in Sakura's room?"

The lion stuck out his lower lip. "She said I couldn't come."

A pouting lion was undoubtedly one of the sillier things he'd ever seen, but Fujitaka managed not to laugh. No sense in offending Kero's dignity further. "You know that isn't what she meant."

Kero huffed and put his head back down on his paws. Unable to resist, Fujitaka ruffled the thick fur at his neck as a good-night before he headed up the stairs to his room.

He had settled himself into bed and turned out the light when he heard the unmistakable sound of paws on the stairs, and a crack of dim light from the hallway as his door was nosed open, then shut again. It was no surprise when the bed shifted as a solid weight flowed onto it, and Kero set his heavy head on Fujitaka's chest. He smiled and raised one hand to scratch behind the leonine ears, his fingers instinctively finding the uneasy spot there that begged for their attention. "Aren't you in the wrong room?"

"No," Kero rumbled. "I wanna sleep here."

"Sakura will miss you."

"Sakura won't mind."

She wouldn't mind, and she would wake them with a squeal and then pancakes in bed the next morning. Fujitaka smiled, and let his eyes drift closed. The pressure of the Kero's head on his chest and the warmth of the furry body next to him were comforting, familiar in a way that resonated as bone-deep as the Guardian's purr.


End file.
